The Classical Music in Jeans Concert
Last night was the "classical music in jeans" "informal/interractive musical event," the cello/piano recital of short Romantic pieces in which the audience was invited to clapp between movements, clap during movements, dance/move in front of the stage, and otherwise respond freely. I'd promised my students that if they brought non-music major students with them, I'd wear jeans and a Hawaiian shirt.
We had a big crowd, and the music students had indeed brought a good number of their liberal-arts major friends. And it was very interractive. And the audience was very enthusiastic.
There was indeed a lot of dancing, including some very uninhibited moving by young children. From time to time, the little kids became the focus of attention. As a performer, it was such a different experience--exciting, relaxing, and distracting all at once--that there will be a lot to write about.
For now though, I'm getting the post up quickly so that members of the audience can post comments and observations. So please do!
By the way, if you add a comment, please note if you are a classical musician (student or faculty) or not--especially if you were one of the liberal arts students invited by a music student. Thanks!
38 comments:
I enjoyed the concert, but felt like it was hard to appreciate, or even concentrate, on the music at times. I got a kick out of the students who were interacting, but the younger children at the front of the auditiorium were quite distracting in my opinion.
I think the casual concert idea was a good one. Listeners should be able to clap when they hear something they like, and not have to hold back their appreciation. However, I think that some people took it a little too far: from appreciative to silly, and at times it was quite distracting.
i very much enjoyed the music of the concert last night, and was grateful for the experience. however, i became aware of how much i appreciate silence during the actual piece. it was great that the audience was so enthusiastic, but much of the time the audience would clap during an intese part of the music and i would not be able to hear much of what came after. i think that this was a great idea and i am happy that i now realize how much i appreciate silence and little distraction during a performance. Dr. Edberg and Stephanie, you were absolutely fantastic!
Professor Edberg is brilliant! I was so moved by his playing. He showed great emotion in his body and face when playing that it was enough by its own to keep me interested. The people dancing in the front, however, were just embarrassing. It made me uncomfortable.
The concert was great. I loved seeing how everyone reacted. It was nice that we could actually feel the music by moving to it and we could experience it the way it was meant to be. The composer did not write the music for the whole thing to be heard, the music was written for the purpose that rock is written now.
I think the concert was a good experiment. The idea to freely move with the music as it touches a person is a sound one, but I think that during the concert many people went overboard, and it really took away from the music. The music was PHENOMONAL and I greatly enjoyed it, but I definitely appreciate more formal concerts now.
I thought it was almost a cross of a classical concert and a rock concert. All the movement and clapping was fun and exciting, and the little talk at the beginning was a good reminder of how things were. Although, dancing around just because you can doesn't mean you should. It was a good concept, but the movement could have related to the music better, and for me it was a first hearing for those pieces. It's nice if we have the chance to hear it before the clapping. Here as in a popular music concert, everyone has already heard the music, so clapping in the middle would be fine.
Kudos to Prof. Edberg and Stephanie for doing an amazing job even with what I would find as a performer to be distracting antics. I did not mind the appropriate applause throughout, but some things simply distracted me from the performance (particularly things that caused a difficult time in hearing what was being played).
I really like the informal approach (called "unplugged series" where I come from, which simply means you can wear jeans to the concert), but I do appreciate being able to focus more on the performer(s) and not the audience.
It was a great Idea, but I think it went a little overboard. I do think concerts should be more lax, but I think dancing and clapping/snapping along to the music should be out of the question. I do think that clapping in between movements is a great idea, otherwise it's a little akward, and maybe the occasional during the music, but only if it is just an unbelievably ubelievable feat. Overall I loved the concert and Edberg melts faces.
I really enjoyed the music, but as a classically trained musician the atmosphere was very uncomfortable for me. I enjoyed the performers talking to the audience, and the idea of dancing seemed fine, but as someone else posted just because you can dance doesn't mean you should. Dancing to the dance pieces, minuettes, etc., made sense, but the rest of it took the attention away from the music. And one of the reasons that some people, myself included, are quiet during concerts is so that they don't miss any of the music they were looking forward to hearing. All in all I think it was a good experiment.
Let’s realize first what we’re evaluating: an engineered attempt to create a pop- or jazz-like ambience for a recital of classical music. Much of the audience response was a response to the performers’ request for interaction, which is quite different from the natural kind of response that one experiences in concerts of popular music. In one way it was forced, in another way it was naïve, in yet another way it was WONDERFUL!
Here’s what I learned last night about classical music and about myself in trying to nudge myself out of my usual concert mode:
1) I don’t really have much of a vocabulary of expression, either verbal expressions or movements – that come naturally to me in a concert setting. These means of expression are underdeveloped or have withered from too many years of silent listening. In watching other people getting involved, I also found their expression sadly lacking (though they get an “E” for Effort!). There seemed to be only a handful of movement options that people resorted to, and a relatively small variety of verbal expressions and exclamations. I know we could all get better at this, if we had more opportunities, but this poverty of expression was striking to me.
2) The choice of repertoire for the recital, and the order of that music, becomes even more important than in a “regular” concert. The choice of smaller “concert” pieces was crucial to pull off something like this. (I can’t imagine this working with a 45-minute Brahms sonata!) The SCALE of the music seems really important. The short movements of the Haydn, and the clearly structured phrases and forms, were ideal. The Strauss, in terms of length, was more problematic, but the performers seemed to make special efforts with the changing emotions in that piece to break things up and keep our attention/involvement. (I’m sure the performers’ insights on what it was like to play in this kind of setting would be most enlightening!) I’m guessing that the dance-like movements of Baroque music would also work well, but the great monumental, monolithic masterpieces of the Romantic era may just be too “super-human” for normal concert listeners to do much more than just sit back quietly in awe. (I learned last night the power of the 3-minute pop wonder: the monotony of movements and expression, that wore on me in some of the longer pieces last night, wouldn’t have a chance in much shorter items.)
3) The quality of the performance becomes even more important to me than in a “silent” concert. I suspect that those people who were most exhibitionist at the recital missed most of the really GREAT music-making that was going on. At least they missed interacting with it consciously. On the other hand, I don’t think audiences will ever learn to get truly and actively involved in classical performances if the performance isn’t absolutely first-rate. A lot of the music-making was lost last night on many listeners…..yet without that caliber of music-making I don’t think these active responses can ever be hoped for. (Does that make any sense???)
4) Finally, I really wanted this music to be AMPLIFIED -- imagine me saying that -- but I found myself unwilling to give up hearing even a single note of last night’s performance because of audience interactions. I wanted to shout in response to a fun climax but I also wanted to hear the quiet, joke-like retort that followed in the piano. I wasn’t prepared to make any compromises.
I hope we’ll have further such opportunities to experience music in such settings. (Perhaps, with more opportunities, these occasions will feel less “engineered,” as I started out saying above.) I listened to the music differently, I enjoyed the music differently, I felt differently about my relationship to the performers and to other audience members…..and I find myself still thinking and talking about an event that, normally, would have faded from my consciousness by the next morning. Congratulations Eric and Stephanie for outraging us….and for inspiring us!
I enjoyed the music and even when the audience was clapping, but I think that it all went a little out of control and I didn't really like that. Instead of focusing our eyes at you, the performer, we were instead distracted by the kids running around and members of the music school dancing. It was a good experience, but now I think we all realize how things are done the way the are done (correctly).
i thought the concert went extremely well. the music was great, and i thought that Professor Edberg's emotion through the cello was quite astounding, giving way to an understanding of the music that one can appreciate, regardless of the mindless distraction of children, both youthful and adult, if thats what you want to call them. the distraction of these "dancers" or "interpreters" really took away from the performance, i thought, as it pulled the audiences attention away from the focal point, being the exquisite performance, toward the mindless interactions between the brave and interpretive souls that flooded the main floor. as i glanced around the auditiorium, i found something quite interesting that most of the viewers where infact staring at the children, or attempting to unionize a "snap" or "clapping sequence", which, in my opion, lacked that of rhythm, especially upon the retards. I did feel, nevertheless, that the applause after a well performed run or movement was quite appropriate, allowing for the audience to display the overall feeling it was receiving, and then in turn, giving the performer something to work off of, that is, something other than the ignorant cares of the careless ballerinas.
the musical aspect of the performance was, however, enlightening and emotional, causing one in complete concentration of the piece at hand to fully grasp not only the composers feelings, but also the feeling the performer was emmiting, supplying a very emotional experience for the serious attendee.
As Dr. Johnson said, "I don’t really have much of a vocabulary of expression, either verbal expressions or movements – that come naturally to me in a concert setting. These means of expression are underdeveloped or have withered from too many years of silent listening. In watching other people getting involved, I also found their expression sadly lacking (though they get an “E” for Effort!). There seemed to be only a handful of movement options that people resorted to, and a relatively small variety of verbal expressions and exclamations. I know we could all get better at this, if we had more opportunities, but this poverty of expression was striking to me."
As a Eurhythmics person, this comment really resonates with me. I agree that we don't explore expression (either verbal or physical) nearly enough. This is a very important topic to me, and it's something I spend a lot of Eurhythmics class time working on. I've seen some really interesting work among my first-year students in expanding the kinds of expressive movement they are able to conceive (even in just the last two weeks), and I know that continuing to work on that will totally transform their performance.
Speaking from that perspective, I also found myself wishing that last night's movements were better tailored to the music. There was some ambiguity about whether the movements were meant to illustrate what was going on in the music, or whether the music was to become the background for the dance, which became of primary importance. Many people here have commented that when something is happening visually, it's hard to give the audio component primacy of attention.
However, I liked the audience engagement in general, and I really liked seeing Eric smile in response to an enthusiastic outburst from the crowd. Often I think that performers and audience members are set up in an almost antagonistic manner, but there was a great atmosphere of humor, appreciation, and open communication in that concert last night that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to both Eric and Stephanie for a great experiment and lovely playing! Very thought-provoking.
The concert left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, some of the actions of the people were distracting, more focused on gaining attention then truly feeling the musice. However, a quiet audience can be similarly distracting, because the preoccupation with being completely silent can disallow a listener from truly connecting with a performance through such as being able to clap at points or sway in their seats. In such situations, it seems that the performance itself and not what is being performed is the focus. The compromise, then, would be to allow for a more informal atmosphere while still excepting "good behavior" out of the audience(aka the focus is still the music rather than personal attention). This can be seen at jazz concerts, and so the difficult part will be transfering this idea to classical music.
I enjoyed the concert thoroughly. It was a lot of fun, although the music major in me couldn't manage much more than clapping between movements. However, it is an absolute delight to see an audience have that much fun and be that involved.
I loved the concert last night!! It was such a unique way to present timeless music...The recital illustrated how music is a momentary thing; always changing and growing...I loved the interaction between Professor Edberg and the audience. It was so much fun. Very motivational. Thank you for an incredible evening!!
I loved it! I was one of the "dancers", and I found the entire idea very refreshing. I have always felt the music I listen to, be it Brahms or broadway or boybands. I realize that dancing publicly was a distraction, but there was so much more joy in the music, and it was great to let everyone see how much I loved it. That raises the question about performance etiquette - do the rules exist because public joy of that type is selfish? Can we only get excited about specific moments of music in private, because it becomes rude and distracting?
And what about the performance quality? In choir, whenever we were encouraged to move while singing, the sound quality would improve, and the more we got into it, the more the audience got into it, and we'd feed off each other's energy.
I suppose there's nothing wrong with hushed reverence, too. There were times when my audience-etiquette training took over and I just sat and listened, but that was okay, too. I felt as though my hushed reverence was both reverent and appreciated, because I wanted to just listen. At least, I was never silent and bored.
But that's me. And I'm kinda crazy about music. *shrugs*
First let me recognize Edberg’s performance as soul-encompassing. He embraced twisting, fluttering, and moaning lines with contented poise.
The casual concert: I was dancing as well. As Cleveland Johnson said, “much of the audience response was a response to the performers’ request for interaction.”
I jumped on the idea of a casual “dancing allowed” recital. It was a fresh idea, and indeed, the experience was uplifting; but I was painfully aware of the rift between those who need a classic, tasteful presentation and those who let loose despite missing some of the music. I too, appreciate the silences and subtle nuances of Edberg’s performance, but danced Wednesday for enjoyment, not for attention, and because the idea had been suggested by the performer himself.
Would I dance, or be any kind of distraction in a concert otherwise?
Never.
To save discomfort on both sides of the fence, I suggest an old fashioned classical music concert, with jigs and waltz’s tailored specifically to a dancing and chatting audience. The question is whether enough potential-waltzer/jiggers even exist.
I found the recital a welcome change, and appreciate being able to enjoy classical music in a new way.
We all like to bathe in every nuance of a live classical performance, but we also feel a little poke each time we hear that particular part of a Strauss or Rimsky Korsakov that is nudging us to dance.
Thanks for the fun Egbert!
Being and HUGE proponent of breaking-down the wall between performer and audience, I greatly appreciated Dr. Edberg and Ms. Gurga's performance. Their synergy was infectious and their music was very well played. As for the freedom given to the audience to express themselves, I'm afraid the concept of a "mob mentality" was in play. A few sparked the interest of many whether it was clapping, cat-calling or dancing. Never one to enjoy being plucked from the audience by a performer to participate in the performance, I found myself feeling similar discomfort and anxiety in this concert. What moves one to clap might move another to become introspective and meditative. In those concerts that Dr. Edberg mentioned, people were familiar with the style of the music of the time and had a common ground on which to express themselves. In our current era, we have a plethora of music choices and are not well-versed in all types of music. I have to agree with a previous comment. If we were given a chance to hear the music without interruption first, then perhaps we would have a greater appreciation the second-time around and therefore be more inclined to express ourselves. Having said all of this, it was a wonderful experiment and I'm glad to have participated.
I've written up my own thoughts here. I agree about the limitations of physical movement. My favorite moments were making sweeping arm gestures with my daughter, which could change quickly from large movements to small ones, flowing to highly rhythmic.
I thought the concert was a fantastic experiment, but I do agree that the dancing distracted somewhere from the performance. As one of the dancers, I did feel embarrassed for myself and for everyone else after a while. Dr. Johnson said that our movements were very limited, but that was due in part to the venue. A place that has wider aisles and more seating would be more conducive to dancing.
I think that last night's concert went quite well, though as nearly every other comment thusfar has noted, it got a little over the top. I think there should be another "Classical Music in Jeans" concert. A second concert would have at least a little less of the "Rocky Horror Cello Concert" vibe and be more about the music itself. I know none of the dancers meant to be distracting, and I personally wasn't distracted horribly by them. (One can close his/her eyes if he REALLY wants to hear it- they weren't yelling the WHOLE time.)
A repetition of this experiment might benefit from a lack of dancing, where audience members merely cheer and clap when moved, so as to lessen the distraction for more conventional listeners. However, since this was (if I'm not mistaken) about broadening the audience and reaching out to people who aren't necessarily exposed to a lot of classical music- as much if not even moreso than it was about expression of feelings- I personally feel that people should be allowed to get up and dance again if they wish. Music is a business as much as it is an art, and I think it would be worth it to weather a wave of concerts attended by people who want "Snakes on a Cello" if it meant that the average audience was both more appreciative of the music and also- very importantly- much larger.
I believe the idea of a laid back and casual performance lightened up the audience. The dancing around and the inadvertent clapping was all in good fun but it became distracting at times especially for those who wanted to focus on the piece being played at hand.
The length of the pieces and of the overall concert were another factor in the success of the event. (Cleveland mentioned this but I think it deserves even more attention.) Eric, you were conscious of these things when you put the concert together, and now that I reflect on them they're pretty important. It's not just the "you'd better hush or someone will be upset" atmosphere at a typical classical concert that can be off-putting, but also having to be seated for such a long period of time, listening to really big long pieces. It feels too much like work, and I say that as a lifelong fan of classical music. A movie may be as long, but movies tend to be more captivating with their visual dimension, and most of them are a lot lighter than your average symphony.
It was a little hard for me, as an audience member, to concentrate on the music sometimes. I'm sure both you and Gurga fed off the energy from the audience, but in my opinion, some of the students in the front were just being silly and taking the casualness of the concert a little too far. I thought both you and Gurga played very well; the song selection was appropriate for the occasion as well. I do think, however, and I spoke with Gurga about this, that you guys could have played something that showed off her technical and virtuosic ability as well. But, nevertheless, the concert concept and performance kicked a lot of ass. /Brett Imamura
As someone who has considerable experience playing in a wide variety of venues (formal) classical and jazz concerts in small intimate settings and large concert halls, informal performances in a variety of idioms, dances, weddings, Walden and similar gigs, etc.) I was very interesting in this experiment. I do believe that the formal concert atmosphere suffers from too many rules and rigidity. I believe we can do a much better job of forming an organic connection between performer and listener.It may be appropriate at times to applaud after a well-performed movement, for performers and listeners alike to move spontaneously to the music and for concert attire to be more flexible in general. One can argue how music was meant to be experienced in the past. However, I believe the music and performance should remain the primary focus of the experience, at least in the more formal concert venue experienced last evening. I especially appreciate playing a jazz “concert” for an appreciative audience. The audience and performers are allowed (even encouraged) to move around a bit, clap for soloists, and even engage in conversation with the performers. I find that limited conversation with the audience can be helpful in giving them insight into the music and performers, as well as helping all participants to relax. In more informal settings, the noise level of the audience varies considerable as do the “rules of engagement.” I found many of last evening’s events (numerous applause, dancing, etc.) to be quite distracting as my attention was moved from the music and performance to the individual performers and audience members. It is unfortunate that many of these events were not spontaneous reactions to the music and/or the performance at hand, but, rather, were somewhat contrived beforehand. Most problematic for me was the constant clapping, laughter and conversation which kept me from hearing much of the fine and often subtle music-making that was taking place. Much like the issue of second-hand smoke, I felt the experience intruded on my right to listen attentively. I do think it is possible to achieve both a relaxed and respectful environment.
I appreciate all the comments so far. I've written a day-after post, at http://ericedberg.blogspot.com/index.html . I'll be posting video clips soon, as well as more thoughts about audience-building and alternative ways of presenting classical music.
You can always see the latest posts by clicking on the name of the blog at the top of the page--that takes you to the main blog page.
During the first performance of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, people stood up, booing, ripping up their chairs from the floor to throw them at the performers, and exited to riot in the streets.
Some people loved it, some people hated it, some felt uncomfortable with the new musical language, some were just trampled by the crowd. But what a historic reaction! I've had people tell me they loved it and were touched by the music and experience, I've had others who blamed me for the "downfall of classical music" because I wore jeans. Well, you can't please everyone....
Although I'm certain that it was probably uncomfortable to watch some of the dancers, and that all of the ensuing laughter and conversation was certainly an annoyance that distracted from the music, if anyone of us wanted a completely silent performance, we could stay at home, alone, with a recording--- this is the "joy" of technology. Perhaps we've forgotten that the joys of attending a performance in a larger venue is to experience the collective audience reaction as a living, breathing, coughing, emotional mass, and that interactions with the performer make this experience unique at each concert, with each piece.
Chamber music is an intimate musical genre, designed to be played in salons and in living rooms, whilst the audience members are strewn across comfortable couches with a glass of wine in hand. Maybe we will never achieve the ideal "relaxed and respectful environment" that Prof. Salman mentions in the larger venue, and a return to the living rooms and restaurants and cafes will once again inspire a love and interest in this music.
A colleague in the English department wrote me (and gave me permission to quote the message here):
"I attended your cello concert this week and meant to send you a note much sooner. What a delight! I wondered if permission to dance in the aisles would take away from the experience or prompt students in the audience to talk, laugh, etc.
"I was pleasantly surprised.
"I would certainly like to hear you play in a quieter setting, but performances like this are important. I brought a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Russia and he was delighted as well. He kept telling me how wonderful it was.
So, thanks for the innovative idea. I wish I had thought ahead and asked my English class to attend, since I use music a lot throughout the semester for response papers, etc.
"I'll think ahead next time you send an announcement of a performance and send my students.
"Oh, and I loved the introduction of Faure' "If you know a cellist, you've heard this." I laughed inside and was instantly transported to the recital during which i performed it and my endpin kept slipping on the floor. It was a difficult few minutes I shall never forget!"
[EE again:] This reinforces my growing impression from comments and conversations that non-musicians who nevertheless love classical music really enjoyed as another way to interact with and experience music.
I love the arts.... music, theatre, dance it enriches my life in so many ways. I didn't grow up in a household where classical music was played. My family didn't even own a record player until I was a teenager, but I do remember, with absolute clarity, the first time I heard classical music played. I was in the sixth grade...it was Beethoven... I was in love! I recall encouraging my family and friends to share the experience of classical music, and found, more often than not, that they dismissed it as 'high brow' -- something for snobs. They wouldn't come to hear it!
That was almost 40 years ago, but I suspect that many people today feel the same way about classical music. One has only to look at the "graying" of concert audiences to realize that young people, who are not musicians themselves, are not experiencing classical music. This is a crisis!! When my generation is gone, who will fill the concert halls, who will spread their blankets on the ground to hear summer concerts under the stars? Will classical music become a 'dead language' one spoken and appreciated only by highly trained scholars?
I wasn't dancing in the aisles at the concert -- now THAT would have been a distraction to write home about -- but I was clapping my encouragement during the pieces, and up on my feet cheering at the end. The experience was engerizing -- not just because of Eric and Stephanie's extraordinary playing, but because it was such a joy to share in the audience/performer dialog throughout the performance.
Would I advocate for this style of performance all the time? No. There is value in the silence and opportunity for reflection that a traditional performance provides and some pieces wouldn't fare well in this type of setting. However, we might ponder why we are comfortable applauding after solos in a jazz concert, ballet, or opera, but do not allow ourselves, or classical musicians, any freedom of expression in a classical concert setting.
Congratulations Eric and Stephanie... you gave us a great evening of music and MUCH to talk about. I hope that you, and other musicians, will continue to experiment and that there will be more 'Classical Jeans' concerts!
I'm a classical musician who's very comfortable with applause between movements, casual dress, performers talking before and/or after pieces, and other breaches of conventional concert decorum. On the other hand my colleagues and I work hard to learn what we do, and we're pretty good at it--good enough, anyway, that we're not embarrassed to charge admission. What I saw on the short video clip (linked from Alex Ross' blog) was two musicians who know what they're doing, and a cluster of people who can't dance and were just grandstanding. Doesn't ability make a difference? If people who know how to do the waltz feel like waltzing to the second movement of the Arensky D minor piano trio, go for it. If klutzes want to upstage the musicians with an improvised quasi-polka, no thanks. I'm with Ross on getting rid of stuffiness, but I think Sandow's views barely conceal a deep hostility toward audience members themselves, and even toward musicians, possibly because they remind him he's not getting any younger.
Wow, wow, wow!
I want to know what you were playing in the bit of video clip where the audience members got up and danced.
That last posting was from Lisa Hirsch (Iron Tongue of Midnight).
I bet you didn't hear one cell phone ring.
Eric, are you familiar with Jose Valencia's Indianapolis based chamber ensemble Orkestra Projekt? The express purpose of the group is to break down the formal barriers of classical music concerts and audience (non)participation--to encourage the audience members to interact more with the perfomers.
Personally, it's been so long since I've played a relatively formal "concert" that I've almost forgotten what it's like to have complete silence and an audience's "full attention" (whatever that means)--there have been a few occasions when that happened even in rock clubs I've performed in--especially if it happenes to be something that these types of audiences have never heard (in that setting or otherwise).
Very interesting
I'm adding in RSS reader
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Post a Comment